Wow. A lot has been going on the past three weeks! Life has been hectic, to say the least; it’s been crazy, busy, and challenging…but, not bad.

It all started with a minor family emergency that led to me staying overnight at my parents’ house to care for my father, who as you may know has dementia. My children and I stayed with him two nights and learned the ins-and-outs of caring for someone with dementia full-time, something my mother does daily. After the initial two nights, the situation changed from staying overnight to going to their house every day to help both of them.

The challenge? My everyday routine of working with two kids at home had to be adjusted to working with two kids at my parents’ house and helping my parents with everyday tasks. Did you get all that?

As I said, it’s been crazy. But, not impossible. Somehow we’ve managed and three weeks later, I can say that I believe I’ve managed to keep up with the most important tasks of work, spend time with the kids, help my parents, and even have a little family fun. While I know there are areas that need improvement and tasks I’d like to do, but haven’t been able to complete, overall I feel we’re getting through this rough patch. So, what has helped?

5 Musts for Dealing with Unexpected Curve Balls in Life

Support
My husband, bless his heart, has been very understanding, supportive, and flexible. He has helped a lot by taking care of things at our own house, and picking up the kids when I’ve had to stay later at my parents’, etc. Just knowing he understands the situation has been helpful enough.

Flexibility
Going with the flow or rolling with the punches – however you want to say it, the point is to be flexible. Regardless of how much planning you do to try to keep you on-task, something may throw your plan out the window. This is important for the kids too, who all too often have had to just go along with what the day threw at us. I kept reminding my daughter that the important part was we were all together, and that somehow we’d make it work.

Say no
I’ve had to say no to some things – events, varying requests, and the like. It’s impossible to be everywhere all the time and do everything. Saying no to extras allowed me to stay on task.

Focus on the ‘musts’Along with saying no, I’ve tried to focus on the ‘musts’ and put aside the less important tasks. For my work, this meant focusing on meeting deadlines and paid work, and spending less time on social media interaction and promotion. Though both important, I had to really consider if it was time well spent.

Humor
Above all, being able to laugh and keep a good attitude about things has allowed us to stay sane. Seeing the humor in a situation always helps. This also helped show my kids that we can have fun regardless of where we are or how many challenges we’re dealing with.